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Crying peaks at two hours 15 mins at six weeks but reduces to one hour 10 minutes by week 12.

Some tots were found to cry as little as 30 minutes a day and others for more than four hours .

Prof Dieter Wolke analysed studies of 8,700 babies.

Highest levels of colic – crying more than three hours a day for at least three days a week – were found in the UK (28% of infants at 1-2 weeks), Canada (34% at 3-4 weeks) and Italy (21% at 8-9 weeks).

Denmark and Germany had the lowest rates of around 6% at 3-4 weeks. The Wessel criteria, used to determine whether a baby has colic, were formulated in the 1950s.

But with changes in childcare and family units, Prof Wolke wants new guidelines.

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He said: “Babies are already very different in how much they cry in the first weeks of life - there are large but normal variations.

“We may learn more from looking at cultures where there is less crying and whether this may be due to parenting or other factors relating to pregnancy experiences or genetics.

“The new chart of normal fuss/cry amounts in babies across industrialised countries will help health professionals to reassure parents whether a baby is crying within the normal expected range in the first three months or shows excessive crying which may require further evaluation and extra support for the parents.”